A number of Irish cattle exporters were preparing to tender for the supply of live cattle to Turkey last Friday when news emerged of the attempted military coup. The exporters had already been struggling with the short time available to submit tenders. The tender only became known early last week and the closing date was lunchtime today, Monday.
After it emerged that the coup attempt had failed and that the government of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was still in charge, exporters continued their bid preparations. Earlier on Monday, two separate export companies were still finalising details ahead of making a final decision on whether or not to submit tenders.
They remained cautious with concerns about security of payment should there be further political instability. The tenders being prepared involved a link-up between Irish exporters and Turkish agents.
The Turkish administration last week published a tender inviting the supply of 50,000 live cattle from EU countries. Irish exporters are concerned at two of the conditions applying: a 3% security deposit that must be made immediately on submitting a tender, and the fact that cattle are to be weighed for payment on arrival in Turkey.